Highlight data as ‘key contract term’ in Wireless Code: CCTS

The Wireless Code should be amended so that it codifies data as a “key contract term” in wireless contracts, the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS) argued on the final day of the CRTC’s public hearing examining the three-year-old regulations, since that wouldn’t change a customer’s ability to adjust their allotment. “We sat here this week… and we heard service providers talks about need to maintain flexibility. I must confess to you, I didn’t understand arguments when I heard it,” Howard Maker, CCTS commissioner, told the three-member CRTC panel Thursday, adding that he still didn’t understand the arguments after having some time to think about it. Maker said that making the data allotment in a customer’s wireless contract a key term would mean that a service provider could not make a unilateral change to that amount without the customer’s consent, with 30 day’s notice, which they can currently do. If the decision is that data is a key contract term, “I don’t understand how by guaranteeing the customer can maintain that allotment of data and price” would prevent a customer from picking up the phone and requesting a change to suit their needs, Maker said. During his questioning of the CCTS delegation, vice-chairman of telecom Peter Menzies noted that earlier in the week, wireless service providers were against creating additional rules around data. BCE Inc. noted during its presentation Tuesday that its customers made more than 2.5 million changes to their data plans last year. “The sheer volume of these changes speaks to the fact that customer needs are evolving. If the Code is modified to make data a key contract term then each of these 2.5 million changes I just mentioned would have triggered an early termination fee and a new contract. This would have harmed, rather than helped, consumers,” Claire Gillies, Bell Mobility’s vice-president of marketing, said. But there’s no connection between having something as a key term and allowing customers to make changes of their own volition, CCTS said. “Customers are able to make changes to other aspects of their services that are key such as voice and text easily, and we fail to see why such flexibility would not be possible if data were to be considered a key term,” Josée Thibault, CCTS assistant commissioner, said. Data use was also raised Thursday in presentations from groups representing members of the deaf and hearing-impaired community, as well as people with disabilities. “We should not be penalized for communicating in our own language,” Lisa Anderson-Kellett, chair of the Deaf Wireless Canada consultative committee, said, noting that while a hearing person could feasibly sign up for an unlimited voice plan for less than $200, someone who needs unlimited data would be looking at paying thousands. Ideally, unlimited data plans would be available for members of their community, the group said. They also advocated for a minimum of 4 GB of data to be included in a 30-day trial period for new wireless contracts for people with disabilities. “Yes, we can manage our data plans and we can continue with that struggle in terms of dealing with WiFi connections, but then we’re limited — we’re on a leash and we don’t have the same freedom,” Nicole Marsh, committee secretary, said. “Sometimes I feel we’re under house arrest — or Starbucks arrest, depending on where you are.” — With reporting by Charelle Evelyn at cevelyn@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Highlight data as ‘key contract term’ in Wireless Code: CCTS

News | February 9, 2017

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Highlight data as ‘key contract term’ in Wireless Code: CCTS

News | February 9, 2017

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